The Vault Read Online Free Page B

on the same side and there was also a gleam from under the fine, blond hair over the left ear. "What was the motto of the Pinkerton detectives? We Never Sleep."
    Her features are up to fashion model standard, he found himself thinking. Maybe she thinks some minor mutilation makes her more approachable. "We Never Sleep. Try telling that to the Police Federation."
    "What's their motto, then?"
    "I wouldn't know."
    She laughed.
    "No," he started to explain. "That's not their motto, it's ..." Then he gave up. "What exactly are you doing here?"
    "Getting a story, I hope. Is this true about the hand in the cellar?"
    "Where did you hear that?" he parried.
    "I was tipped off by one of the guides at the Roman Baths. You kicked them out of their staffroom, I was told, and large policemen are in there sieving loads of earth and mortar for human remains."
    "So what's your angle on this? Staff in Revolt over Police Dig?'
    "Come off it, Mr Diamond. That's no story."
    "Police in Revolt over Police Dig?"
    A wide smile. She felt in her handbag and handed across a business card. "I work with the nationals when a story of potential interest comes up."
    He was wary. "It's at a very early stage. I can't give you anything you don't already know."
    "No information on the victim?"
    "What victim?"
    "Oh, come on, Superintendent, the owner of the hand. It was buried less than twenty years ago, they're saying."
    "That's yet to be established."
    "I am the first to approach you, aren't I?"
    "The first of the press, yes."
    "Don't you think I deserve an exclusive?"
    He said, "My dear Miss Smith—•"
    "Ingeborg will do."
    "I doubt if there's much in this for you."
    "There's the rest of the body, presumably. Do you think it's in the cellar?"
    "I'm keeping an open mind. And it's a vault."
    "Your mind is a vault?"
    He smiled. "At this stage, yes. Just a large, empty vault."
    "No theories, then?"
    He lifted a palm to indicate that the point had been made already.
    She moved on. "Let's try something else. Where's that female detective inspector you work with?"
    "Julie Hargreaves? Transferred to Headquarters."
    "Oh? At whose request?"
    He felt the blood rise. "That's off limits, Ingeborg. We don't discuss personnel with the press."
    She held out her slim hands in appeal. "Fine, I won't press it. I admired her style, the way she did her job."
    "We all did."
    "You must have chosen her as your deputy. Do you think a woman brings something extra to a crime squad?"
    He pushed his chair back, prior to leaving. "I don't have time to chat."
    She smiled. "Worth a try. Some time, I'd like to write a profile of you."
    "Whatever for? I'm not a story of—what was it?—potential interest."
    She ran her eyes over his substantial form. "If I pulled a few strings, I could interest a features editor in you."
    "That's really made my day."
    "I'll tell you one thing for sure. You're going to be sorry you dropped Julie from your team."
    He didn't rise to the bait. The truth of it was that Julie had left at her own request. The strain of working with him, defending him, interpreting his moods, smoothing ruffled feathers, had finally got to Julie. And those who knew him best said that she had made his job too easy. Confrontation was his fix.
    But he must have learned something from Julie, because he let Ingeborg Smith leave without a blasting. Even after she reminded him to pick up the business card he had left on the table.
    SOME GENIUS from the forensic lab at Chepstow phoned him later. In the process of removing a substantial chunk of concrete adhering to the hand found in the vault, they had discovered the bones of a second thumb and two fingers. It seemed that two hands had been buried together.
    "It makes sense," Diamond said. "If you go to the trouble of digging a hole you might as well use it for both."
    "Assuming they both came from the same victim," the Chepstow man threw in casually.
    "They did, didn't they? This is a left hand and a right?"
    "It would appear so."
    "Can't